Wrapped up another therapeutic session on Saturday. Steve asked if my therapy is "active release". Yes, with a few other techniques worked in. Scott(physical therapist) broke his back years ago and had a technique used on him to make loosen him up. He was interested in learning more about it. He went to school to study it. Then worked with several people around the country to learn different techniques. After 20 years, he came up with a system that is a mix of the things he has found that work.

I had Vivian take a couple pictures. Notice the big knots all over my back.

So it looks like I have quite a ways to go. But...two weeks into it, I certainly can feel a change. Crashing clown bike this last spring really set me back. I was in much worse condition. Just about all flexibility was impeded. It was time to get help.                                                                                                   

Vivian's youngest son, Jon, had his 18th birthday. I was the cake developer for the event. It took a good part of the day, but I successfully made a soccer cake.

Adding up the cake mixes, powdered sugar, etc. The cake would have weighed between 5 and 6 pounds. 

I thought I would throw in a few pictures of my home town's scenery this time.

The top picture. Looking at the bottom of it, you can see my Aunt Dorothy's pasture, home and outbuildings(also some of her neighbors homes). This is looking from north to south across town. Mullan is just out of sight under the mountain I was standing on to take this. (I learned to milk cows in her barn)

The second picture(showing the tamarack/ western larch turned yellow in the fall) is from near the top of lookout pass, on interstate 90, looking west towards Mullan. That is a settling pond from the silver mine you see. You can just barely see a small bit of Mullan beyond it. This view is no more.

In recent years the mine put in a much bigger pond and there has been enough strip logging to destroy it in the eyes of those who loved the area. Idaho has an old law on the books that allows mines to tie up large tracts of land. The idea was to give them the rights to timber to use in the mines. They have shipped in mahogany guides for many, many years. So, even though they never use the timber, they own it. In Idaho, you can completely strip your privately owned land. The mines sell off the land and the logging companies strip it of anything big enough to have any use. 

But they are smart. They leave enough timber standing in the right places that people driving through do not see the stripped areas easily.

Because of this, even if I lived to be a hundred. I will never see the area look as beautiful as it did while I was growing up.

This picture is from out front of the house I grew up in looking east towards lookout pass. The mountain to the immediate left, is the bottom part of the mountain I took the picture of Aunt Dorothy's property from.

The 1967 Ford 4x4 pickup I am getting ready for paint, is setting on the concrete that used to be the floor in the small shop I learned bodywork, painting and engine building in as a kid. Amongst other things. There was always a project. If you look at the top of the picture. You see a couple outbuildings. They were not there until recent years. I grew up right on the edge of the woods. The big difference I see between this and the woods everywhere I go? Here we have vast tracts of land owned by the bureau of land management and the forest service. Also, the land "owned" by the mines is open for use. I grew up with total freedom, on hundreds of miles of forest to run and do as I pleased. Utter freedom. Before strip logging. Lots of roads to ride dirt bikes and four wheel drives. So many good places to hike. Speaking of four wheel drives. I did finish the Ford,

The 1977 Mustang in the background was another project.

Few last pictures of Mullan in winter.

In the pictures above. The Datsun 280z (red) was one of my projects. In the last three, That is one of my Ford Bronco's. It was also a project. Before I hurt my back, I did love fixing up vehicles. I love the challenge of figuring out how to fix just about anything. I cannot remember ever looking at something and thinking it was beyond my abilities. I do remember a learning curve that made me have to do some things twice :-)

                                                                                               

Without thinking, I edited the last post. I figured out the picture part and added a couple things.

Not much to blog about, but I suppose an update won't hurt.

I started a type physical therapy. I had just had a belly-full of the second rate therapists I had seen for so long and was determined to do it all myself. Progress was slow, but still it was progress.
After crashing clown bike early this spring I had quite a set back. Due to my inability to be able to make any more progress beyond where I am and having two people tell me I needed to go see this guy they knew, I am now seeing him. The two people who recommended him were Vivian and Julie(from my meet up group). They have not even met each other and the guy has a great reputation. I can tell you. He is moving things. His name is Scott, he is the proprietor of.  AA Health in myrtle Beach, SC. If curious you can google it.

Got a hewlett Packard android tablet. Should have got one long ago. I just never realized how much better they were for my purposes than the laptop. Now I need to figure out where I can download charts from. Lance? I remember you did this,any thoughts?

Going sailing again tomorrow in Charleston. All about that in the last post. Possibly going to work soon. Has been a trial attempting to get myself healthy enough to return to work. Will share more later but this really is a self esteem issue. I need to know I can do anything I want. Being unable to work is also a pretty good indicator of my ability to function, with any task, because it all hinges on my physical abilities.

Scott thinks he can get me back to 90% of where I was before the injury. I am not sure if I can explain all of this correctly. His methods are a conglomeration of the techniques he has studied. I forget if it was a medical board that has studied his techniques and deemed it a new way of doing things. He is writing a book on it.

So there you have it. The only thing I did not share is a sickness in my immediate family. I am quite concerned for my younger brother. It is quite serious. 'Nuf said.

So my last year in myrtle Beach goes on. I have 600 Christmas lights up in the courtyard already. I know, kind of early, Vivian will not let me put up the 7ft. tall blow up Santa until after thanksgiving.......see!!! I need a job!

I will end up with over 2000 lights when done.

Figured out how to get pictures. Last picture. You know Vivian is a vegetarian? She eats cheese and seafood but otherwise, no meat. When I say we are working on our diet, I don't mean we are ON a diet. We are experimenting with healthier eating. We are looking over the Ayurvedic(India) diet.

You know me! Get a book and look it over. Looks like a lot of rice and vegetables. Also looks like different foods for different body types. My theory is this. Try all kinds of different ways of doing things. When you find what works, adopt it as a lifestyle.

I had to come back and edit this. Saturday morning the therapist really moved some things that had not been moved in a while. The rest of the weekend I was pretty tender. This morning(Monday) I could tell that a small improvement was made. Not much.....but noticeable. I am quite optimistic. It also looks like I will finish up the winter working. I will share more later. No sense counting chickens before they hatch.

Halloween has come and gone. I think I have watched all the "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" that I need for one year.

I really do not mind the charlie Brown classics since I grew up with them. I didn't get a picture of it but Vivian and I went to the first half of the "Young Frankenstein" musical. Her oldest son had talked her into buying tickets as they do a once a year "fun" thing. He skipped(I think his first girlfriend has something to do with it) So I went. Half a show was plenty. I like the movie but the musical was not especially endearing for me.

We also went sailing in Charleston Harbor with a Gal(Babs) who was doing a site on meetup. It was a nice way to get a look at Charleston Harbor and get Vivian out on a different boat.

She did great keeping the 33 foot sailboat into the wind properly. Looks kind of natural there(A line off Cap'n Ron, a kurt Russel movie)

I think this was an advertisement photo she had on the site. Boat was a 1977 and did not look as new as in picture. It was a nice boat. Got to learn a bit about sloop rigging. The sailing was not very productive in Winyah Bay this summer with Mary Lee. Water is too shallow and channel is too narrow. When done with interior work Mary Lee will be going to Charleston. Will get a lot of sailing in next summer. Turns out there is a reason why you do not see many sailboats in Winyah Bay :-)

I mentioned the meetup site. I am also going to a metaphysical meetup. I have gone twice and find it liberating to be able to discuss things I think and experience with like-minded people. It was a nice group of people each time. There was one other guy the first time. I was the only guy the last time in a group of about 15 to 16.(I never counted) More on that later.

A lot of things have happened in my life. The last decade was a real life changer with the last few years being the positive side of that. I would have liked to have been in Florida this winter but I have one last year of getting ready for the trip. Next fall I will be sailing down on the outside as apposed to motoring down the intra-coastal waterway. (It is why I bought a sailboat)

Turkey day is not even here and already the Christmas stuff is out. What am I saying? It was out before Halloween. I talked Vivian into trying on this hat with the facial hair attached. I would not have thought of it if she hadn't already tried the sock monkey hat

Of course I got this picture off Steve and Linda's Blog. They are the boaters I met in Baltimore my first summer. They currently spend summers on Guppy in Canada and winters on Yesterday's Dream in the keys. They have a daughter working on the set of "Big Bang Theory".

I had hoped to join them in Marathon this winter but my time in Myrtle beach is not over yet. If you have followed the blog then you know the reason.

I bought an android tablet finally. A hewlett Packard 10 inch off HSN. It was a good deal. It took a week to get here. Finally arrived. The back was off  in the package and a small part, I assume was one of the cameras, was laying loose in the bag. I never even got a picture. In about a half hour it was back at UPS for the return trip. Maybe next week I will get an android tablet?

Last, but certainly not least. I ordered everything I need to do the P90X home exercise program. Funny how many times I have been told how difficult it is and I should not undertake something like this with my back. If I listened to every ones advice, I would still be laying in a hospital bed in Idaho waiting to die. I will do this 90 day program the best I can.
   I do best when I am in better shape. I will keep trying until I am successful. I want to start out early this spring in good shape. I am sort of following the south beach diet with Vivian. I still like foods that I should not be eating. I am trying, but time will tell. :-)   I guess the fact that she has me eating a lot healthier is a pretty good sign. I like healthy foods, I understand why we need them. I just have this love of eating about anything that I think I can digest.